Talking Points: Safe and Sound?
CURRENTS Article In spring 2011, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a letter to schools delineating institutions' responsibilities in preventing and addressing sexual harassment. But as institutions set out to revise their policies in the wake of the new guidance, they are finding that the new requirements raise as many challenges as they seek to resolve.

Talking Points: What's Around the Corner?
CURRENTS Article Under a new U.S. law, affinity credit card agreements are now subject to increased disclosure requirements. This column explains why Congress opened up these agreements for scrutiny and how can alumni associations can comply with the new law.

Advance Work: Time Out
CURRENTS Article When officials at Memorial University in Newfoundland decided to try to encourage people to report wrongdoing, they found that not many of their peer institutions have a formal whistleblower policies.

Talking Points: Canning Spam
CURRENTS Article With campuses increasingly relying on e-mail to reach constituents, advancement officers should be familiar with the 2003 CAN-SPAM legislation. This article explains the new U.S. law, including why it was passed and what it seeks to do, as well as specifics about how to comply and penalties for not doing so. Although the legislation doesn't apply specifically to nonprofits, the author recommends that all organizations adhere to well-defined best e-mail practices.

Talking Points: After SOX
CURRENTS Article Recent corporate scandals in the United States led to accountability measures like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Although most of the legislation applies to public companies, institutions and foundations might want to adopt parts of it and should be aware of the one part with which they must comply.

Keeping the Piece
CURRENTS Article GASB Statement No. 39 sets new requirements for public colleges and universities to include financial data of "component units"--including many institutionally related foundations--in annual reports. This article explains what the requirement means for institutions and their affiliated foundations and offers guidelines for reaching compliance by the June 2004 deadline.

Talking Points: Supreme Confusion
CURRENTS Article A higher education attorney explains the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 rulings on the University of Michigan affimative action admissions programs. The much-anticipated rulings were expected to define the legality of affirmative action, but institution leaders remain uncertain about how to interpret the rulings and how they will affect race-conscious decision making in higher education admissions.

Talking Points: Avoiding Trouble
CURRENTS Article Intermediate sanctions regulations give the IRS new ways to penalize those who take advantage of their relationship to nonprofits. The intermediate sanctions described in Section 4958 of the IRS code target excess benefit transactions such as excessive compensation packages. As nonprofit managers negotiate staff compensation and financial transactions with trustees and other disqualified persons, they should following the stated guidelines for data collection, decision-making, and documentation to ensure compliance with the new regulations.

AdvanceWork: Campus Crime Goes Online—Again
CURRENTS Article The U.S. Department of Education publishes campus crime statistics online, which is likely to raise as many constituent questions about data accuracy as about on-campus crime.

Mastering the Maze
CURRENTS Article In the United States, charitable solicitation is regulated by the federal government but also by many state, county, and local governments. This article describes four areas of regulation with which fund raisers should be aware: registration, maintaining and providing records, telemarketing and direct mail, and trustee conduct.